Teachers unimpressed by AP World History changes

TEACHERS UNIMPRESSED BY AP WORLD HISTORY CHANGES: High school history teachers say they feel ignored bythe College Board as it moves forward with a controversial — albeit tweaked — plan to change the way that world history is taught to high school students in Advanced Placement classes.

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— The College Board announced this week it would alter the plan, the original version of which sparked outrage among educators because it would have started courses in 1450 — essentially the rise of European power. That effectively eliminated instruction on pre-colonial Africa, Asia, Americas and the Middle East. Earlier years would’ve been relegated to a pre-AP course that isn’t tested.

— Under the new plan, set to begin in 2019, students would get instruction on a couple hundred extra years, with the course beginning in 1200. The College Board has said it will explore creating a separate “ancient” world history course for the years before that, as well. Kimberly Hefling has more on that here.

— But some teachers say the new plan is no better. It “still cuts out most of the golden ages of non-Western cultures,” Eileen Baranyk, who teaches world history at a high school north of Chicago, told Morning Education. She called the decision to begin the course in 1200 “totally arbitrary” and said it’s not in line with how world history is taught in college. Baranyk also doubted that the new “ancient” course will actually become a reality, as the College Board has said it will first need to gauge interest among colleges and high schools. Even if it does, she and other teachers say they don’t see many schools picking it up.

— The College Board said in a statement: “We engaged with a range of stakeholders — teachers, students, college faculty, leading historical organizations, and other advocates — to understand concerns and identify the best approach for changes to the AP World History course. We heard from those who brought to light principled concerns and opportunities for improvements.” A College Board spokesman also pointed to statements from a handful of teachers supporting the new plan that the organization posted on its website.

— But other teachers don’t buy that. “We’re getting so little transparency from the College Board as to how they’re even making these decisions,” Baranyk said. She said she and others have written emails to the organization’s officials, including Trevor Packer, senior vice president of Advanced Placement and instruction, and have heard nothing in response. Amanda DoAmaral, a former AP World History teacher from Oakland, Calif., said nobody in a Facebook group with about 5,000 world history teachers had heard from the College Board on the decision.

— DoAmaral said she sent out an informal survey of her own to about 700 teachers, students and college professors, and said more than half opposed the changes. She noted only 13 percent strongly agreed with the College Board’s plan. DoAmaral has become a de facto leader in the fight against the changes after a video of a testy exchange between her and Packer at an open forum in Salt Lake City, Utah, went viral. “I know there’s still a lot of frustration with teachers — and even more so because we just feel ignored,” she said.

— Teachers are vowing to keep pushing back — as the AP Annual Conference gets underway in Houston. Hundreds of teachers, counselors and administrators are gathered there for sessions touching on all 38 AP courses offered by the College Board. The conference lasts through the weekend.

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UVA SPARKS BACKLASH WITH TRUMP AIDE HIRE: Professors, alumni and others are pushing back at the University of Virginia after the school hired President Donald Trump’s former legislative affairs director, calling it "unconscionable" as the one-year anniversary of the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., approaches. Marc Short, a frequent Trump spokesman on television, is leaving the White House Friday and is slated to serve as a senior fellow at the Miller Center, a wing of the university focused on presidential history and public policy. Short received an MBA from the university's business school. Read the full story here.

— But an online petition blasts the school for hiring Short, saying "the university should not serve as a waystation for high-level members of an administration that has directly harmed our community." The petition was circulated through social media on Thursday. "As we approach the first anniversary of the white nationalist violence against this university, this town, and our friends, neighbors, students faculty and staff — all of whom are represented among the injured — it is unconscionable that we would add to our university a person who served in a high-level position for the administration that first empowered, then defended, those white nationalists," the petition says.

— Short told POLITICO that he is "sympathetic to the pain in the community" and that "I think we could have done a better job expressing sympathy for the victims and outrage at those who perpetrated this evil." Trump famously blamed "both sides" in the days after the violent August 2017 protests, which resulted in the death of a 32-year-old Charlottesville woman. But Short pointed to an Aug. 14 statement in which he said the president was "unambiguous." In that statement, Trump said "racism is evil, and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans."

— Short also said he and his family "feel a particular bond and closeness to the community" of Charlottesville. He said he's been visiting the town and the college campus since he was a kid attending sporting events there. "I think that there is, as well, a cherished tradition at Thomas Jefferson’s university, hopefully, of welcoming diversity of opinion," Short said. "I hope that the message isn’t that anyone who worked in the administration can’t work at a university."

— A spokesman for the Miller Center said it is committed to nonpartisan and bipartisan study of the presidency and employs former officials from both Republican and Democratic administrations. "We understand and respect those UVA faculty members and other critics — even some from within the Miller Center — who disagree with the decision to name Marc Short a senior fellow. One of our core values is fostering robust, but civil, debate across our nation's bitter partisan divide," Howard Witt, director of communications and managing editor at the Miller Center, said in an email.

TITLE IX LAWSUIT CONTINUES FOR NOW: A federal judge has asked for more information in an ongoing legal fight over the Trump administration’s decision to rewrite guidelines for schools handling allegations of sexual harassment and assault. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley wants both sides in the case to turn in 10-page supplemental briefings before she decides whether or not to toss out the lawsuit, as the Education Department has urged her to do.

— The call for more information came during the first court hearing on a lawsuit filed in January by a handful of advocacy groups, led by SurvJustice, which represents assault survivors. The suit claims that interim Title IX rules the Trump administration issued last year are based on "unfounded generalizations about women and girls" and conflict with existing Title IX requirements. The administration, however, has argued that the rules are only temporary and that the women's advocacy groups challenging them aren't directly affected.

— Education Secretary Betsy DeVos last year scrapped Obama-era Title IX rules that pushed schools to do more, including responding to complaints swiftly and separating survivors from the students they say assaulted them. DeVos has said her goal is to balance survivors' rights with the rights of the accused. The administration issued a question-and-answer document last year and plans to issue permanent rules through a notice and comment period. The department has said it plans to issue proposed rules in the coming months.

— Under Corley’s order this week, the groups suing have until Aug. 2 to file their supplemental briefings and the department has until Aug. 30 to produce a response. Corley has said she’ll decide how to proceed after that.

COMING SOON: House Democrats plan to drop their vision for a sweeping overhaul of higher education policy next week, as a dueling GOP-backed measure, H.R. 4508 (115), has struggled to make it to the House floor. Democrats on the House education committee, led by Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia, are planning to unveil their plan to reauthorize the Higher Education Act next week, likely Tuesday, according to a Democratic aide.

— The bill is almost certain to go nowhere in the Republican-controlled Congress. But it will outline Democratic priorities for rewriting the main law that governs higher education. It will be the first proposal by congressional Democrats to comprehensively rewrite the Higher Education Act since then-Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) released a bill as he was retiring in 2014. Michael Stratford has more.

SENATORS WANT CBO TO PROBE INCOME-DRIVEN REPAYMENT PLANS: Sens. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the chairmen of the Budget and education committees, are askingCBO to study income-driven student loan repayment plans, which “may not be sustainable” as they wrote in a letter to the agency. The senators want “detailed information on the loans in IDR plans that are expected to be in negative amortization, repaid in full, forgiven at the end of 20 or 25 years, or forgiven at the end of 10 years due to the combination of an IDR plan and Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Any system that lends more than is repaid will surely become a liability to federal taxpayers.”

SENATE DEMOCRATS PROD ACCREDITATION PANEL ON FOR-PROFIT CONVERSIONS: A group of Senate Democrats, led by Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, today is urging a federal accreditation advisory committee to speed up its plans to study how college accreditors approve for-profit to nonprofit college conversions.

— The National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, at the senators’ recommendation, earlier this year set up a subcommittee to study the issue. But the Senate Democrats say they want the panel to release recommendations within the next three months — rather than next year as NACIQI Chairman Art Kaiser suggested — so that they can inform the Trump administration’s plans to write new rules for college accreditors. Read the full letter here.

CLASS OF 2017 MAKING SLIGHTLY MORE THAN PREDECESSORS: Bachelor’s degree holders from the Class of 2017 earned starting salaries that average $50,516 — a small bump from the $50,359 the Class of 2016 earned in their first year out, according to results of a new report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Unsurprisingly, graduates who majored in computer science fields earned the most: $72,677. Those with degrees in the social sciences earned significantly less — $46,707 — and the group’s earnings were nearly unchanged from the year before.

Rep. Ted Poe is trying to jumpstart long-stalled legislation that would require hospitals — particularly university hospitals — to have sexual assault forensic examiners available to handle victims of rape: The Houston Chronicle.

CLARIFICATION: A previous version of this report misstated Short's teaching relationship with the UVA business school. POLITICO was told earlier this month that Short would be teaching there. The UVA business school says no plans have been "formalized" for Short to teach, though he may be a volunteer guest speaker.

About The Author : Benjamin Wermund

Benjamin Wermund is an education reporter for POLITICO Pro, covering federal policy and national education issues. He’s a Texas expat and a diehard Spurs fan and he has a weakness for margaritas and queso. Before joining POLITICO, Ben covered higher education at the Houston Chronicle and K-12 education at the Austin American-Statesman. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, where he worked as a reporter, editor and managing editor for The Daily Texan and spent a brief stint covering West Texas for the Big Bend Sentinel.